The Sad Story of Subject Theta
by The-Artist-64
Summary: The year is 1968. Subject Delta is fighting the forces of Sofia Lamb and Subject Sigma is fighting to take control of the Thinker from Reed Wahl. Subject Theta was recruited for a similar purpose, to take down one of the many factions running the broken undersea utopia of Rapture at the time. All the while, he struggles to remember his past...


**1968**

**THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN**

A tune played over the loudspeakers of the Atlantis Suites. It was a sad song, one of reminiscing and sorrows. He stopped for a moment, feeling broken. Not any sort of physical pain, something...deeper.

It was that moment that he realized he had achieved self awareness.

_"Is this me?"_ He thought, looking into the waters of a fountain. The image of a monster dressed in a rusted diving suit splattered with old, dried blood stared back at him in the water. He looked down at his hands, large, bulky gloves. These gloves bared a mark which he identified as _theta_.

Subject Theta thought and tried to remember. He saw a river, a city, and...blood. Nothing more. What faded images he had were nothing more than shadows.

_"Perhaps there's someone who can tell me who I am."_ he thought, ignoring the urge to plunge his drill through his head. He reached for a map on the floor. It tore slightly under the pressure of his bulky, gloved hand.

The title was _City of Rapture_, and several locations were marked off. To the west, _Welcome Center_, _Neptune's Bounty_ and _Arcadia_. To the north of _Minerva's Den_was _Venus Square__, _and not too far away from that was a red mark accompanied by_YOU ARE HERE__._

Theta discarded the map and continued to walk through the halls. He paused, catching a glimpse of the view from the window. This place was beautiful. Towers of neon and light rose from the sea floor, clouded by the darkness of the endless sea.

His gaze was interrupted by a child's scream. Instinctively, Subject Theta bolted towards the source of the cry. His helmet's lighting should have changed from a neutral yellow to an enraged red, but it was permanently red due to previous damage.

A small girl was cornered by two grotesque, mutated thugs. The two turned around and seemed stunned at sight of Theta. A man wielding a pipe wrench shouted a long string of cuss words and another began to fire his tommy gun.

Subject Theta revved his drill, seeming to scare off the one with the pipe wrench.

"Coward! The boss'll string ya up by yer intestines!" the splicer shouted at his partner, who was running off into the hall. Theta turned his attention back to his attacker, who began shooting at his helmet. He plunged his drill through the thug's head, quickly ending the conflict.

The girl looked up, and her terrified expression became joyful. He almost felt disgusted by her dirty dress and unwashed hair. She had an unpleasant color to her skin and the eyes of a demon.

"Daddy!" she said, reaching up for a hug. He picked the girl up, recognizing a need to get her to safety.

He stopped, hearing a radio turn on inside his helmet. _"Ah, so you're awake. Good. How 'ya feelin'?"_

There was a long silence.

_"Oh right. 'Ya can't talk. The name's Schneider. Thomas Schneider. You and I got a lotta work to do."_Subject Theta placed the girl down onto the floor, and she began to gather ADAM from a corpse.

_"If 'ya haven't noticed, Rapture's run by factions nowadays. Sofia Lamb and her cult got most'a the city. Reed Wahl's got Minerva's Den sealed off from the rest of Rapture. This part's controlled by a mob of Splicers."_ Theta heard a confident 'all done daddy!' and picked the girl up once again.

_"See, Lamb fires a torpedo at anyone tryin' to leave this hellhole. I wired up my Bathysphere to be undetectable. Gang pushed me out before I could finish. If 'ya could take out the mob, we could get outta this mess."_

The radio transmission ended.

"I'm ready for dream time, Mr. Bubbles." the Little Sister said, yawning. Subject Theta gently placed her in a vent. As he did, he heard another radio message tune in.

_"Well now, what do we have here? Someone's tryin' to kill me? They'll see. They'll see what happens when 'ya try and kill me."_

Immediately, a hoard of Splicers ran out from the shadows. Bullets flew from all directions in the air. Subject Theta quickly smashed a thug on the head and drilled another. He did the same with three others, until his drill fuel was depleted.

"How do 'ya like the smell of flames!" a Splicer shouted, scorching Theta. He could hardly breathe, and the heat constricted him. He grabbed for a gun on the floor and shot the thug's head. The fire dissipated, and the Protector stopped to catch his breath. A radio transmission began once again.

_"'Yer a hardy one, I'll give you that; but lemme tell 'ya this kid: it's just the beginning."_ the man cackled from the receiver.


End file.
